Intentions to Marry, 1887

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840399, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

Imaged by Carole at Archives NZ Wellington, May 14 2025

Page 1358

District of Quarter ending

No	Date of Notice	Names and Surnames of Parties	BDM Match	Condition	Calling or Profession	Age	Dwelling Place	Length of Residence	Marriage Place	Folio	Consent	Date of Certificate	Officiating Minister
326	24 October 1887	William Collins Rachel Le Gros	William Collins Elizabeth Rachel Le Gros 💍 1887/1427	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	30 24	Ellesmere Christchurch	1 year 2 years	Registrars Office	87/3066		24 October 1887	Registrar Marriage J. M. Faulkner
327	25 October 1887	Henry Lacing Eleanor Sinn		Widower Widow	Farmer Housekeeper	50 25	Avon Christchurch	25 years 6 months	Registrars Office	87/3067		25 October 1887	Registrar Marriage J. M. Faulkner
328	25 October 1887	Herbert Gardiner Mary Cerr	Herbert Gardiner Mary Orr 💍 1887/1422	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	28 24	Christchurch Christchurch	3 days 7 years	St. Pauls Church	87/3084		25 October 1887	Rev H. Irwin
329	26 October 1887	Henry Ashmead Dinna Beatty	Henry Ishmeal Kent Emma Beatty 💍 1887/1437	Divorcee Widow	Printer	36 40	Christchurch Christchurch	10 years 24 years	St. Michaels Church	87/3090		26 October 1887	Rev H. J. Purchas
330	28 October 1887	Robert Whittaker Alice Taylor	Robert Whittaker Alice Taylor 💍 1887/1382	Bachelor Spinster	Fitter Servant	22 21	Christchurch Christchurch	4 years 10 years	Wesleyan Chapel	87/3108		28 October 1887	Rev W. Pearce
331	31 October 1887	Alexander Woodice Susan Mundy	Alexander Woodill Susan Mundy 💍 1887/1997	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer Servant	21 24	Christchurch Christchurch	3 days 3 days	Registrars Office	87/3068		31 October 1887	Registrar Marriage J. M. Faulkner
332	2 November 1887	Robert Bruce Louisa Roberts	Robert Bruce Louisa Roberts 💍 1887/1391	Bachelor Spinster	Fitter	35 23	Christchurch Christchurch	10 years 2 years	Presbyterian Church	87/3053		2 November 1887	Rev P. R. Munn
333	3 November 1887	Robert William Metson Harriet Rushly	Robert William Metson Harriet Emily Spiller 💍 1887/1344	Widower Widow	Gardener	39 29	Christchurch Swells Addington	3 days 5 weeks	St. Marys Church	87/3043		3 November 1887	Rev H. Last
334	3 November 1887	Thomas Wallace Margaret Josephine Brooks	Thomas Wallace Whitfield Margaret Josephine Brooks 💍 1887/1429	Bachelor Spinster	Sawmiller	30 21	Christchurch Christchurch	6 years 3 days	Registrars Office	87/3069		3 November 1887	Registrar Marriage J. M. Faulkner
3257	24 October 1887	Frederick Welcome Ausley Mary Louisa Efford	Frederick William Ansley Mary Louisa Efford 💍 1887/1434	Bachelor Spinster	Bootmaker	21 18	Christchurch Christchurch	1 year 7 years	Baptist Chapel Oxford Terrace Christchurch	87/3097	John Efford, Father	24 October 1887	Rev C. Tall

These records have been automatically transcribed and must be verified using the page image (below)

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What is an Intention to Marry?

The 1854 Marriage Act required Pakeha settlers (and later Maori) to register their intention to marry from 1855. The resulting Notices of intention to marry were sent by the district registrars to the Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages and bound into large volumes, each containing a year of notices. These registers were eventually deposited with Archives New Zealand.

What information does an ItM record?

A typical Intention to Marry notice records:

the bride and groom's full names
occupation of the groom (and sometimes the bride)
their ages
district where the marriage would take place
how long they had resided in the district
Where the marriage would take place (eg, a specific church)
Who would officiate the marriage (eg, a minister)
The date of the notice and also a date when the certificate was issued. Marriages had to take place within 3 months, and usually occurred within a week or so of the certificate date.
If one of the parties was under 21, a parent who consented to their marriage was usually specified

These details can provide clues for genealogical and historical research. Knowing the date and district makes it easier to look for wedding notices in Papers Past, and the amount of time that the parties had resided in a district can offer clues to whether a person was born in NZ, or when they immigrated.

However, finding individual records in the Intentions to Marry registers was typically a slow and manual process, usually requiring an in-person visit to Archives NZ's Wellington office (during limited opening hours) and using a handwritten card catalogue index to look up individual names.

Eight years of the registers had been digitised by Archives NZ prior to 2024, but even these digital versions required the use of a manual index and usually examining several pages to locate specific records.

What is the Intentions to Marry Project?

This project aims to transcribe the New Zealand Intentions to Marry registers (from 1855 to 1925) with the assistance of new technology (AI), making the records freely available and easily searchable.

The ITM records have also been cross-referenced with the registered marriages at DIA Births, Deaths and Marriages, where possible (a small fraction of the recorded intentions to marry did not become a registered marriage).

Currently we have almost all records between 1855 and 1894. More registers will be added as the project continues.

The project is led by Luke Howison, a web developer who made the free genealogical research search tool NZ Ancestor Search Helper and Archway-style Collections Search. There are also some wonderful volunteers assisting with digitising the registers.

Can I volunteer to help?

Yes, you can! You can sign up to correct errors in the transcribed records and match ITMs with registered marriages.

I am also looking for Wellington-based volunteers to help me digitise more years of the registers. I can provide lighting equipment and a 'clicker' (to trigger your phone's camera).

How is the transcription done?

There are several steps to digitising and transcribing the records:

Digitising the registers (taking clean, straight, high-quality photos)
Processing the digitised pages by straightening, cropping and sharpening the images
Transcribing each page with a combination of AI tools
Matching each ITM with a registered marriage when possible
Human verification of the transcribed information

The main LLM (AI) used are the Google Gemini Pro and Flash models, which have excellent 'Vision' capabilities, and a generous free tier.

Archives NZ has released the register years they have digitised (1865-69, 1872, 1874 and 1880) under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 license.

The Intention to Marry registers (up to 1925) are more than 100 years old, so their Crown Copyright has expired, putting them in the public domain. This also applies to any 'mechanical reproductions' (eg, pictures or photocopies) of their content without substantial alteration.

The transcribed records on this website are released under the Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal license, which allows reusers to distribute, remix, adapt, and build upon the material in any medium or format, even for commercial purposes, while giving credit to the creator (NZ Intentions to Marry Project).